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There’s no quick fix to Healthcare

The healthcare system is broken in this country and based on profit for a few and financial devastation for many. Hospitals, medical equipment manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies and government have created a co-dependent house of cards that thrives on fraud and greed. The rich live. The poor die. And if you think otherwise, you are fooling yourself.

Take a look at the “Ask Your Doctor” advertisements for pharmaceuticals. Millions of dollars are spent by these companies on television and print ads to get patients to try to tell their doctors what drugs to prescribe instead of the other way around. And it works because doctors are only allowed to see patients for 15 minutes per visit and don’t really care which drug they are taking and have to retain patients at any cost. Meanwhile, no one has any idea what these drugs actually cost because insurance companies pay the costs. And until recently, the cost of insurance was paid by industry. It all ran amuck.

Now that more insurance costs are being shifted to individuals, families are expected to hold up their end of the mirage and they can’t. Millions cannot afford insurance and that has pierced the illusion that all is well. It’s all unraveling. Hospitals have consolidated into big businesses to maintain profits, further depersonalizing services to patients and instituting strict protocols to protect themselves from law suits that have nothing to do with the patient’s best interests.

The answer is not quick or easy but individuals cannot bear this burden. Government steps in to help, but the healthcare industry and the insurance industry have to cut costs and the whole system needs to be dismantled. The old paradigm is broken. People who promise a quick are fooling themselves.